Literacy

Budget 2016 has once again cut funding for the province's libraries. This time, the Liberals are closing 54 libraries, almost all of them in rural areas.

The closures leave up to 15% of residents more than a 30-minute drive from a library. Thousands of people -- children, seniors, families, people needing Internet access -- will now be unable to acess a library at all.

NDP Education Critic Lorraine Michael (MHA, St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi) is appalled that the Liberal government apparently plans to make drastic cuts to the cash-strapped libraries system in the province.

NDP MHA Dale Kirby (St. John’s North) says there is little for the province to celebrate this year on International Literacy Day. The United Nations-created event falls on Sunday, September 8. Kirby, the NDP critic for both Education and Advanced Education & Skills, says government is failing to support basic and vital components of literacy.

NDP Advanced Education and Skills Critic Dale Kirby (MHA, St. John’s North) says that, as International Adult Learners Week draws to a close, there is little good news in the field to report in this province, thanks largely to recent callous and poorly-considered budget cuts.

Sunday, January 27, is Family Literacy Day in Canada, and as schools and libraries across the country observe the day, the provincial government continues to delay the release of the long-promised Strategic Adult Literacy Plan.

NDP Education Critic Dale Kirby (MHA, St. John’s North) says a newly-released literacy study shines the spotlight on areas in which government needs to improve. While the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study shows students in this province perform at the Canadian average, it also says quite clearly that there is a measureable gender gap in reading abilities.

NDP Advanced Education and Skill Critic Dale Kirby (MHA, St. John’s North) has released this statement regarding International Literacy Day.

Tomorrow, September 8, marks International Literacy Day, a day to celebrate literacy and a day the international community sets aside to recognize that literacy is a human right and the foundation of all learning.